Intermittent-feed device.



No. 885,292. PATENTED APR. 21, 1908 P. H. RICHARDS.

INTBRMITTENT FEED DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED APR.22, 1902.'

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No. 885,292. PATENTBD APR. 21, 1908.

F. H. RICHARDS.

INTBRMITTENT FEED DEViGB.

PPLIOATION rum APR. 22 1902. A a SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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' P. H. RICHARDS.

INTERMITTENTFEED DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 22. 1902.

PATENTED APR. 21, 1908.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

i/f'itnesses Inventor UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANCIS H. RICHARDS, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT.

INTEBMITTENT-FEED DEVICE.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANCIS H. Rrormnns, a citizen of the United States, residing at Hartford, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Intermittent-Feed Devices, of which the following is a specification.

My invention pertains to feeds for stock in connection with automatic machines and more particularly relates to an intermittently operating feed, and more es ecially resides in novel mechanism organize( and combined to effect a positive intermittent action of a feed member by a continuously rotating driving member.

This invention consists in the employment of a star wheel movement in connection with a continuously rotating driving member, an improved belt feed, improved instrumentalities for preventing the overthrow of the actuated mechanism, new and useful organization and combination of the several features herein disclosed, and improved combination of such an intermittent feed with automatic machinery.

Some of the objects of my invention are to provide an intermittent feed mechanism requiring little expenditure of power in its operation, positive in action, restrained against overthrow, compactly organized, and capable of combination with and forming an operative part of automatic machinery.

I have illustrated my invention in the accompanying drawings in which like reference characters designate like parts throughout the several views.

Figure 1, is a right side elevation of a carving machine disclosing one embodiment of my invention; Fig. 2, a plan view; Fig. 3, a left side elevational detail of the feed actuating mechanism; Fig. 4, a vertical cross section on line :v-x of Fig. 2; and Fig. 5, a rear elevational detail of the feed actuating mechanism showin parts of the belt, frame, and belt wheel brolren away.

Referring to the drawings, I have shown a carving machine mounted on a frame A, in which a shaft B, mounted in frame A, carries two eccentrics C and D which actuate through eccentric rods E and F, two tool-carriages G and H carrying tools I, which operate upon molding stock J. Four tools 1 are shown upon each of the carriages G and H which make successive cuts, each deeper than the preceding cut, to remove the material in a Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 22, 1902.

Patented April 21, 1908.

Serial No. 104,220.

succession of light chips instead of removing a single heavy chip.

It will be seen that with this arrangement of the tools the stock should be fed the distance between two adjacent tools alternately with the operation of the carriages G and H. A shaft K is mounted transversely of the machine and is driven from a power pulley L mounted fast thereon. The shaft K carries a fast spiral gear M, which meshes with a spiral gear N, fast on the shaft B. A disk 2 is mounted fast on the shaft K, and is pro vided near its periphery with a stud 3 projecting from each side. On the projecting portions of the stud 3 are mounted loose rollers 4 and 5.

A carriage 6 is journaled at one end upon the shaft K and is provided with bearings S which carry a shaft 7. A projecting arm 9 of the carriage 6 is securable by a bolt and tail nut 10 to a slotted guide 11, on the frame A, having the form of an are about the shaft K as a center. The carriage 6 may be raised or lowered and secured at any point to the guide 11. A star wheel 12 is mounted fast on the shaft 7 and is adapted to be engaged and intermittently rotated by the roller 4 on said stud 3 of disk 2, as said disk is rotated by the shaft K. A restraining star wheel 13 is also mounted fast on the shaft 7 and is adapted to be engaged by the roller 5 on the stud 3 of the disk 2. The bearing surfaces of the star wheels 12 and 13 are substantially parallel and are disposed upon said star wheels respectively so that at the point where the rollers 3 and 5 leave or separate from the star wheel said bearing surfaces are substantially tangential to the .path of said rollers. The star wheel 12 takes the thrust 'from the roller 4 to drive the shaft 7 while the restraining star wheel 13 prevents the overthrow of the shaft 7, which might be caused by the momentum imparted to said shaft bythe roller 4 actuating star wheel 12.

It will be clearly seen that the shaft 7, during its movement by the roller can neither play backwards nor forwards of the exact osition imparted to it at any time by the re ers 4 and 5, and that at the moment the rollers 4 and 5 leave or separate from the star wheelno momentum is or can be present in the driven shaft 7 as the bearing surfaces at this moment are tangent to the path of the rollers 4 and 5. This effect is produced by the restraining star wheel 13 which checks the momentum of the shaft 7 as the rollers 4 and 5 leave the star wheel. A gear 14, fast on the shaft 7, meshes with an internal rack 15 on a pulley wheel 16 mounted on ashaft supported by the frame A. The pos tion of the pulley 16 is constant in the machine and in order to substitute different sizes of gears for the gear 15 in order to produce different lengths of feed, the carriage 6 is provided adjustably secured to the frame and capable of being raised or lowered to bring'a gear 14 of any diameter into proper mesh with the rack 15. The power pulley 16 is provided on its outer periphery with projections 17 which are designed to enter perforations in a belt 18. The belt 18 may be made of steel or other suitable material. The belt 18 is provided with outwardly projecting teeth for engagement with the stock. The belt 18 passes over the pulley 16 and lies upon a platen surface 19 on the frame A, which platen surface 19 is tangent to the pulley 16. The platen surface 19 is curved under at the front end of the machine and the belt passes over said curved portion and hangs slack until it reaches the pulley 16 again. A beltdeflecting idler 20 may be mounted on the frame A and bear upon the belt 18 adjacent the pulley 16 to cause the belt 18 to present a greater surface to the pulley 16. The stock J is fed to the machine and is carried upon the surface of the belt 18, being pressed upon said surface by the spring pressed rolls 21,

into the path of the tools I and there operated upon, the teeth upon the belt 18 securing a positive engagement of the stock by the belt and preventing any backward slipping of the stock.

I am aware that a belt feed has been used before, but the particular belt feed shown is designed especially to avoid the expenditure of a greater amount of energy in operating the same than is necessary, the slack belt arrangement is much more easily operated than that arrangement in which a belt is passed over two pulleys, one of said pulleys having to be driven by said belt or other means.

The slack belt driven as it is by one pulley and passing over a stationary guide will, when such pulley is intermittently or variably rotated, have relatively no tendency to move the stock forward when the pulley is stopped or retarded, as is the case when an idle pulley guides and supports the belt. In the present structure means are provided for preventing overthrow of the pulley and the beneficial results of this carefully devised organization would be largelyneutralized if the momentum of a guide or idler pulley caused an overthrow of the belt each time the driving pulley was retarded in its movement. This present structure also does away with the additional load put upon the driving pulley and the belt of having to overcome the inertia of the idler pulley each time the speed of the driving pulley is augmented. The necessity of precision of movement of the belt will be apparent when it is considered that one tool will partly cut out a chip and then the stock will be moved and another tool complete the cutting out of this chip. One tool could not supplement the cutting of another under these circumstances except the feed were precise in its movements.

The employment of the star wheel driving device and the star wheel restraining device in combination presents a perfect means of transmitting from a constantly rotating driving member an intermittent motion to a driven member, while at the same time counteracting the momentum given to the driven member before the driving member leaves the star wheel, and thereby producing an intermittent feed which will operate with great precision, a necessary qualification of an intermittent feed mechanism used in conjunction with a carving or similar machine. In the machine illustrated the actuating disk 2 is driven at the same speed as the driving shaft which actuates the cutters and turns the shaft 7 one-fifth of a revolution during each revolution of the shaft K. The one-fifth revolution imparted to the shaft 7 is in turn imparted to the pulley 16 through the gear 14, and rack 15, which accomplishes a movement of the belt 18 and the stock carried by the belt the distance between two adjacent tools or the distance of the desired feed, said distance being changeable by substituting gears of various diameters for the gear 14, which substitution is permitted by the angular adjustability of the carriage 6.

It is obvious that I may not use the adjustable carriage 6 when my invention is applied to a machine where the distance of feed will remain stationary. It is also obvious that I may change the relative proportion of the several parts and ratios existing between the movements of the several parts to meet the exigencies of any particular case. I may also make the star wheel and restraining wheel 13 in one provided with slots having opposed bearing surfaces, the form shown being designed to eliminate the factors of friction as much as possible, the rollers 4 and 5 rolling in opposite directions upon separate bearing surfaces. However, a crank wrist might be used in place of the rollers 4 and 5, which would have a rubbing contact with the bearing surfaces. All of which changes in construction and detail may be made without departing from the sprit of my invention. The feed herein illustrated may be used in conjunction with many intermittently operating machines such as punches, drills, die presses, etc.

Having described my invention, I claim 1. In a carving machine, the combination of a group of cooperative carving tools, a star wheel, a restrainer wheel, a crank between said star and restrainer wheels having oppositely disposed wrists engageable with said star and restrainer wheels respectively, the bearing surfaces upon said star and restrainer wheels being substantially tangential to the path of said crank wrist at the oints of initial and final engagement of the atter, stock feeding means connected to said star wheel, and a pressure roll for cooperating with said stock-feeding means.

2. In a carving machine, the combination with a series of tools so organized that one will supplement the cut of another upon the shifting of the stock, of an endless slack feed belt for carrying the stock, a pulley engaging one end of said feed belt for driving the same, an idler for deflecting said feed belt against the pulley, means for rotating said pulley with an intermittent motion, and means for guiding the other end of said feed belt.

3. In a carving machine, the combination with a set of tools for commencing the cut of a chip and a set of tools for supplementing the cutting of said chip upon the movement of the stock and the next tool movement, and means for actuating the same, of an endless belt for feeding the stock, a stationary guide for one end of said belt, and an intermittently driven pulley for advancing said belt step by step, and means for controlling said pulley in sequential timing with said cutting tools.

4. In a carving machine, the combination with two sets of cooperative carving tools, a feed belt, stationary means for guiding one end of said belt, and an intermittently driven pulley for advancing said belt.

5. In a carving machine, the combination with two sets of tools organized one for supplementing the chip cutting action of the other, a platen for sustaining the working thrust from said tools, a belt passing over I said platen and having a slack portion below the same, said platen having a curved guide at one end for said belt, and an intermittently driven pulley for drawin' the belt across said platen, the drive of t e pulley and the tools being organized for proper sequential timing.

6. In a carving machine, the combination with two tools organized one to supplement the cutting of the other; and means for actuating the same, a platen having a curved guide surface for a belt, a feed belt running over said platen and curved guide surface, a pulley for driving said belt, and means in operative relation with the tool actuating means for variably moving said pulley, and means for preventing overthrow in the advance of said pulley.

7. Ina carving machine, the combination of a group of cooperative carving tools, a star wheel, a restrainer wheel, a crank between said star and restrainer wheels having oppositely disposed wrists engageable with said star and restrainer wheels respectively, the bearing surfaces upon said star and restrainer wheels being substantially tangential to the path of said crank wrist at the points of initial and final engagement of the latter, and stock feeding means controlled by said star wheel and restrainer wheel.

8. In a carving machine, the combination with a group of cooperative carving tools and means for actuating the same, of a star wheel, a restrainer wheel, a crank having wrists engageable with said star and restrainer wheels respectively, the bearing surfaces upon said star and restrainer wheels being substantially tangential to the path of said crank wrist at the points of initial and final engagement of the latter, means in operative relation with the tool actuating means for rotating said crank, and stock feeding means connected to said star wheel and restrainer wheel.

FRANCIS I-I. RICHARDS.

Witnesses:

FRED. J. DOLE. JOHN O. SEIFERT. 

